Letters to the editor
Posted by WebmasterMar 15
Again, for the gazillionth time, I have received a rather threatening letter via snail mail from someone that opposes one of my political opinions. This time it was received for the following letter to the editor of the local newspapers in and around the San Gabriel Valley;
Bonita Unified School District held an Internet Safety meeting for the parents of students in the district. The meetings consisted of The Internet and Destructive Behavior, A tour of My space and ways to safeguard our kids. I did not attend these meetings because I believe that the problem isn’t the Internet. It’s the Bonita Unified School District.
In the last two months there have been two arrests of teachers that work for the Bonita school district. Walter Edward Babst was a 10th grade math teacher at Bonita High School. He was arrested in an Internet sting in Miraloma. He went to a house to have sex with a 13 year old girl. Most of the female students had complained that he was always leering at them and trying to look up their dresses and down their blouses.
Then on February 28, Debra Lynn Pence, 47, was booked on suspicion of having unlawful sexual intercourse and committing lewd acts upon a child 14 or 15. She was a teacher at Allen Avenue Elementary School, just around the corner from my house and the same school both of my daughters attended.
My concern here is not the Internet. My children are online right now as I type this and WHENEVER they are on the Internet I am right beside them, monitoring their activities. This is how you safeguard your children, not by attending some dopey meeting designed to placate a bunch of hand wringing parents.
As for the district, I believe that all of the teachers in the Bonita district should be required to allow law enforcement officials to look at their personal computers and see exactly what they are up to. I also believe that there should be a thorough background check be done annually. I know this seems a little drastic, but these are the people that we are trusting with our children. Bonita Unified is batting 1000 in the game of pedophile baseball. This is a simple solution to remedy the situation.
John A. De Gennaro
I will post the unsigned letter I received tomorrow or as soon as the FBI gives me the go ahead. Here is what we know so far. The letter was mailed from Pasadena, California on March thirteenth. I checked my hits log for my websites and I received two hits from someone at 9:15 and 9:24 am on that same day. Both of these hits looked up my name on Google. Both of these searches brought the individual to my sites. I handed all of this information over to the FBI and as in all of the other times I have been threatened, I sure they will find the perpetraitor of this crime.
As for my opinon of my school district, I am trusting these teachers with my children for eight hours a day. Twenty five years ago no one would have ever thought that preists were up to shananigans with our children. BUT THEY WERE AND STILL ARE!!! What makes any of us think that teachers are above reproach?
JD
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Teachers should now have background checks just as everyone else does when entering a job. It is very sick what they do to our children and grandchildren. I am sure it was happening when we were younger too but we were not taught to tell and run. You idiot teachers are just gonna keep getting caught because our children have the knowledge now to tell and not to keep quiet from your idle threats. You are sick and should be punished for hurting children. How would you like it teachers of bonita school or any school if this was happing to your children. Just because you have qualifications does not mean you are a good person, think about that!
Yes, I agree the teachers of all states and school districts should have a backround check yearly. I live in
Tennessee and it is as bad or worse here. just yesterday they had teachers in Nashville arrested in a child porn ring. what is this country comming to when you cant even trust your childs teacher.
I am glad that you gave that letter to the FBI and I hope that they find the person that typed that letter.
that is a threat and should not be taken lightley by any one.
Friday, 03/17/06
Teacher denies illegal touching
Cleared of complaint by student in 2003
By CLAUDETTE RILEY
Staff Writer
A tenured Metro schoolteacher and highly decorated military veteran denies that he had inappropriate contact with six female elementary students.
Ronald H. Pearce, 66, was suspended from his job as a physical education teacher at Paragon Mills Elementary last month after a first-grade student reported that he had touched her inappropriately. Five additional students have come forward with similar complaints in recent weeks.
“Obviously, the very nature of the allegation is devastating. His position is that he hasn’t done anything wrong. He hasn’t done anything inappropriate,” said Bob Lynch, a Nashville attorney who represents Pearce. “It’s a very difficult situation. A man that’s had this history without any black mark on his record is entitled to some benefit of the doubt here.”
A review of Pearce’s thick personnel file shows one other allegation of misconduct in 24 years of glowing evaluations and strong annual recommendations that he be rehired. In 2003, Pearce was investigated, and immediately cleared, of wrongdoing after a female student reported that she felt uncomfortable when he “put his hands on her waist, under her shirt and pulled her toward him” on the playground.
“That is the one blip in his entire file,” said Woody McMillin, spokesman for the 72,000-student Metro school district. “You’ll find nothing but a really positive, glowing record.”
The current investigation was triggered Feb. 27 when a first-grade female student, accompanied by her mother, went to Paragon Mills to report inappropriate sexual contact by Pearce. School officials immediately placed Pearce on “administrative leave” with pay, which is standard procedure in such situations, and notified the Metro police department and the De partment of Children’s Services.
“The police department’s investigation is very much continuing,” said Don Aaron, spokesman for the Metro police department. “At this point in the investigation, six female students at Paragon Mills have reported inappropriate contact by the teacher. The police department takes accusations such as this very seriously. In any case such as this we’d ask that anybody in the community who has information about this to contact the police department.”
Aaron described the allegations as “inappropriate touching” but declined to provide more details about what may have happened, how often or where the incidents may have taken place. He said detectives have visited the school, but attempts to interview Pearce in person have been unsuccessful.
“Our detectives have made an effort to speak to the teacher in question,” Aaron said, noting that they had contacted him through his attorney. “He de clined our request.”
Earlier this month, Pearce, through attorney Lynch, notified Metro in writing that he “will not resign, will not retire” and plans to exercise all his rights as a tenured teacher if the district tries to fire him.
Pearce, who served in Korea and Vietnam, joined the Metro school district as a substitute teacher in 1981. Two years later, he was hired as a full-time science and math teacher at Glencliff High, where he taught and coached until 1997. A 1984 evaluation stated that Pearce “has displayed great potential, concern and enthusiasm in the classroom. He is a good teacher as well as a firm disciplinarian.”
A two-year stint at Shwab Elementary followed. Pearce was praised for teaching physical education and for be ing a strong “male role model.” His spring 1999 review stated: “Continue to be a positive force on our faculty and being a team player. Your demeanor with children, co workers and parents reflect and indicate your success as an educator.”
That fall he joined the faculty at Paragon Mills. According to evaluations, he met expectations and repeatedly was recommended for rehire. However, the allegation that sur faced three years ago led school officials to meet with him and come up with “strategies” he agreed to follow to avoid “suspicion of immoral or illegal actions.”
A summary memo placed in his personnel file stated that he’s not to be alone with students, put his hands on students or allow students to sit in his lap or hug him “body to body.” •
The teachers in the state of California have it so they can never be fired. The state of education is second only to Mississippi. It sucks!
John